CoinCorner Taps Lightning Network to Enable Free Cross-border Payments for Millions

CoinCorner and Bitnob teamed up to enable free cross-border transactions from Europe and UK to Africa. Through a new app, “Send Globally” which uses the bitcoin Lightning Network, millions of users can transfer their GBP and EUR funds and convert them into local fiat currencies in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Lightening Network Used for Cross-Border Payments

Crypto exchange CoinCorner partnered with bitcoin app Bitnob to develop a solution that allows free cross-border payments from Europe and UK to Africa through the Bitcoin Lightning Network. The solution, ‘Send Globally,’ will allow millions to transfer and convert their British pounds (GBP) or euros (EUR) to local fiat currencies in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya.

The fund transfers will be facilitated via the Lightning Network – a layer 2 protocol built on Bitcoin that enables fast transactions across a network of participants. In this case, Lightning Network will convert EUR and GBP funds into BTC and then into the local currencies in Africa, which are ultimately deposited into the receiver’s bank account or mobile wallet app.

“When a CoinCorner customer uses Send Globally, their pounds will be automatically converted into Bitcoin (BTC) and sent via the Lightning Network. Once the BTC is received at Bitnob, it will be instantly converted into the local currency — NGN, KES or GHS — and the recipient will receive the funds straight into their bank account or mobile money wallet.”

CoinCorner partners with Bitnob to facilitate cross-border transactions from UK and Europe to Africa

According to World Bank Open Data, roughly $14.8 billion are transferred from the UK and Europe to Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana each year. Until now, these transfers have been typically conducted through a third-party payment facilitator such as Western Union.

Such fund transfers rely on centralized entities and have longer processing times and hefty transaction fees. Sub-Saharan Africa is the most expensive region to transfer money to, said Bitnob CEO Bernard Parah, as sending $200 cost “an average of 8.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020.”

Lightning Network Continues Driving BTC Mainstream Adoption

Danny Scott, CEO of CoinCorner, said the remittance market represents “a huge opportunity for Bitcoin.” The cryptocurrency’s “borderless nature” makes it an ideal money transfer method, and thanks to the Lightning Network, transferring Bitcoin is instant and very cheap, Scott added.

Earlier this year, Jack Dorsey’s Cash App launched a feature that allows users to receive Bitcoin through Lightning Network. Cash App was first integrated with the Lightning Network at the start of 2022 to allow users to send BTC to any Lightning or on-chain BTC address.

A recent document released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland showed that Lightning Network has been pivotal in driving Bitcoin’s mainstream adoption. The launch of Send Globally comes amid a difficult period for the crypto market, which has been battered by harsh macroeconomic conditions.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist